EU-Japan cooperation on global and regional security – a litmus test for the EU’s role as a global player?

Please note: Each In-Depth Analysis is assigned a DOI (digital object identifier), which is a safe and long term way of ensuring a hyperlink to the full text of this report. However, when ESO creates this record, on occasion the DOI still has not been activated by the EU Bookshop. If you find the source url hyperlink does not work please use the alternative location hyperlink listed as a related url.Within their partnership, the EU and Japan recognise each other as being essentially civilian (or ‘soft’) powers that share the same values and act in the international arena solely with diplomatic means. However, the evolution of the threats they face and the unpredictability now shown by their strategic ally, the US, have led both the EU and Japan to reconsider the option of ‘soft power-only’ for ensuring their security. They have both begun the — albeit long —process of seeking greater strategic autonomy. The EU’s Global Strategy adopted in 2016 aimed clearly to ‘develop a more politically rounded approach to Asia, seeking to make greater practical contributions to Asian security’.

Like the EU, Japan had identified ‘a multipolar age’ in which the rules-based international order that had allowed it to prosper was increasingly threatened. In line with its security-related reforms, Japan had decided to ‘take greater responsibilities and roles than before in order to maintain the existing international order’ and resolve a number of global issues.

The EU and Japan might increase their cooperation at the global and strategic level and in tackling these challenges at the regional or local level. The Strategic Partnership Agreement (SPA) between the EU and Japan would provide opportunities for such cooperation, which should also be open to others. This was an opportunity for the EU to demonstrate that it was a consistent and reliable partner, and a true ‘global player’.

The Council Conclusions of 28 May 2018 on ‘Enhanced security cooperation in and with Asia’ were a step in this direction but needed to be translated into action.

• Primary Source

EP: EPRS: Briefing, October 2017: Japan and prospects for closer EU ties http://www.europeansources.info/record/japan-and-prospects-for-closer-eu-ties/

European Parliament: European Parliamentary Research Service: In-Depth Analysis, June 2018: EU-Japan cooperation on global and regional security - a litmus test for the EU's role as a global player? http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/IDAN/2018/570492/EXPO_IDA(2018)570492_EN.pdf

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